Pokemon the 1st Generation

With the release of the 6th generation of Pokemon I thought it would be a good idea to go through a brief history of the Pokemon generations as a bit of nostalgia for veteran trainers, and an welcome to the series for newcomers. I'll start with Generation 1 the original 151.

Pokemon Red/Blue:

In 1998 gamers for the first time got a chance to catch and raise their own Pokemon with the release of Pokemon Red and Blue for the Gameboy. These games came out at one of Pokemon's most popular eras with the show being one of the most popular animes at the time, and with the widespread popularity of the Pokemon trading card game. Pokemon was everywhere but it was the games that really raised Pokemon to new heights giving gamers a chance to become a trainer and make their own Pokemon journey.

Synopsis:

You start off as a young Tranier from Pallet Town in the Kanto region and Professor Oak asks you to fill his Pokedex up with data from the 151 Pokemon in the world. He gives you the choices of either Charmander, Squitle, and Bulbasaur as your starter. You're goal is to become a Pokemon master and to do so you must capture and train your Pokemon to battle 8 gym leaders to gain the 8 gym badges. Once you have the badges you qualify to challenge the Pokemon League Champion . Along the way you battle the group known as Team Rocket a group that plans to steal Pokemon and become the most powerful organization in the world led by the final Gym Leader Giovanni. At face value the game seems a bit simple just catching and raising Pokemon to be better than all the rest, but really looking at this first game alone you'll see that the Pokemon Universe started immediately as a vast and complex world.

Random Details

Pokemon from Space:

Many gamers are led to believe that Deoxys is the only Pokemon from space because of how emphasized it was, but in reality this idea started way back in generation 1. Clefairy was said to have originated in space and in the anime some arrived to earth via a space ship. In the game Clefairy evolves using a Moon Stone, is found on Mt. Moon, and usually only appears at night which is when the moon comes out. So the game also brings out strong hints that Clefairy is from space.

Virtual Pokemon:

The game also has Porygon which was originally a computerized man made Pokemon. Not only does the Pokedex explain parts of this but the way it can be caught further proves the point. It can only be gained as a prize in the game corner not far from Silph Company which is the high tech corporation of the Pokemon world.

Cloning:

The first generation also dives a little into cloning as scientists try to make a clone of the Legendary Pokemon Mew and results in Mewtwo; however, there is more to the story than that. There is also a connection of the transforming Pokemon Ditto to this story. Ditto and Mew share the same weight, Ditto is only found where Mewtwo is located, and Ditto is even the same color as Mew. The information leads people to believe that Ditto is a man made pokemon resulting from failed attempts to clone Mew.

Lavender Town:

This is by far the most controversial town in the Pokemon Universe. Before Lavender town no real indication was given that Pokemon could die; however, at Lavender town there is the Pokemon Tower which is essentially a Pokemon Graveyard. This led to some mixed opinions giving a town such a creepy theme in what is otherwise a cheerful and lively series. The story doesn't end here. There is also the issue of the music. Originally there was a faint beat within the original soundtrack and was changed before the western release because of complaints of headaches. This led developers to change the music in order to prevent this problem from continuing. There's even a hint that a Pokemon of your rivals died during the game. Your rival appears with a Raticate early in the game, but doesn't appear again. Instead your rival is seen at the Pokemon Tower in front of a grave hinting possible he is paying his respects, who knows.

Unique Details: As mentioned earlier the main villain is also the final Gym Leader and is the only generation to do that. Second this is the only generation where your rival becomes the Pokemon League Champion. Also there was the missingno glitch. If you talk to the old man in Virdian City who taught you how to catch Pokemon then fly to Cinnabar Island and surf on the far right side of the town you'll find a data glitch that appears as a Pokemon called Missingno which looks like a glitched backwards L.

Pokemon Yellow

Pokemon Yellow is a unique game in the Pokemon universe because it is the only game in the series that gives no choice for the starter. Instead of the usual choice between a Fire, Grass, or Water type Professor Oak is out of all three and instead gives the player a Pikachu which refuses to stay in its Pokeball so it walks with you wherever you go. This is also the first time your rival does not have one of the three original starters as well instead he has an Eevee. This is to reflect the anime where Ash starts off with a Pikachu and his rival Gary uses an Eevee.

Thanks to Hardcore_Hector giving me a picture of information there are details that prove that the 1st games had the strongest Pokemon due to some flaws in the attacks.

Final Verdict: The first generation arriving at such a popular time for Pokemon and giving the first experience for gamers to be Pokemon Trainers made this a popular game right from the beginning selling almost 10 million copies before even reaching the U.S and a total of 20 Million copies in just a few years. It also appeared in the Guinness Book of World Records in 2009 as the Best selling RPG on the Gameboy and the Best selling RPG of all time.

Overall this was believed to be a way to get the entire Pokemon journey in the palm of our hands, but little did we know this was simply the first of a very long journey to become a true Pokemon Master.